How to make
Put baking paper in an 8″ (20 cm) diameter baking form and only then tighten the cake ring.
Melt the chocolate with steam as follows: Pour cold water in a pot, place a glass bowl on top but don't let it touch the water. Crumble the chocolate in the bowl and add the butter. Turn the stove on and once the water comes to a boil, turn it off. The chocolate is now melted. All you have to do now is stir well.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the whites briefly on the highest setting with a mixer or until they turn to foam. Now begin to mix again, starting at the minimum setting and gradually increasing it.
Mix to the point when when you pull the mixer beaters up you see egg whites stuck to them. The egg whites have to form firm and shiny tips, pointed downward.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until whitened and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and beat. Sift the flour with the baking powder and starch. Add the floury mixture in several lots, without beating with the mixer anymore. Alternate between it and the egg whites. Stir very carefully, so that the whites don't deflate. Pour the dough into the baking form.
Bake in a preheated 350°F (175 °C) oven for about 30 min.
Dissolve the starch for the cherry cream in a bowl of water. Strain the cherries from the compote, pour the juice into a pot. Heat the cherry juice, add the starch and boil until thickened while stirring nonstop. Pour in the cherry brandy. Add the cherries themselves, stir and leave it to cool. Set aside 8 cherries for decoration.
Divide the cooled layer into 3 parts using a sharp knife or thread. Put the cake ring around the first layer. Pour in the cooled cherry cream and leave it in the fridge to harden.
Once the cherry cream hardens, beat 4/5 cup (200 ml) of cream with a packet of stabilizer, 1 tbsp powdered sugar and a packet of vanilla. Pour in 2 oz (50 g) dark chocolate shavings and stir carefully with a silicone cake spatula. Pour the cream mixture on the second layer and smooth it out.
Sprinkle the final layer with cherry brandy and put it on the cake, pressing lightly. Leave the cake in the fridge overnight to harden.
When the cake sits in the fridge for a few hours, the cake layers moisten and stop being so dry. The next day, slide a knife along the edges carefully and remove the cake ring.
Beat 4/5 cup (200 ml) of cream with a packet of stabilizer, 1 tbsp powdered sugar and a packet of vanilla. Smear this cream on the top and sides of the cake. Smooth it out and stick chocolate shavings to the sides of the cake and one very small circle in the very middle. This is the decoration for the original version of German Black Forest Cake.
Beat the final 4/5 cup (200 ml) of cream with a packet of stabilizer, 1 tbsp powdered sugar and a packet of vanilla. Using a pastry bag, make 8 large rosettes on the top of the cake and put a cherry from the compote on top of each rosette.
